EDITORIAL 



SECRETARY LANE'S proposal 

 for the control and management 

 of Alaska's natural resources by 

 a Development Board consisting 

 of three members, instead of by vari- 

 ous departments of the Government 

 to do away with the red tape which he 

 believes complicates the development of 

 Alaska and discourages efforts to es- 

 tablish claims and open up the country. 

 There is no doubt that the control of 

 various resources by various depart- 

 ments results in confusion, delay and 

 discouragement; that the profusion of 

 laws governing the development of 

 these resources causes unnecessary 

 complications ; and that improvement in 

 conditions are necessary if Alaska is to 

 be unlocked and her resources used. 



But we do not approve of Secretary 

 Lane's plan to include the control of 

 the national forests of Alaska in the 

 hands of such a Board as he proposes. 

 We believe this would be a mistake. 

 The Forest Service has shown its busi- 

 ness capacity in the management of 

 the Alaskan national forests as well as 

 those in the United States, and this 

 management is year by year becoming 

 more and more efficient. What is being 

 so well done now could not be im- 



proved upon by a Board which would 

 have to attend to other important re- 

 sources as well. Delay, red tape and 

 confusion are not apparent in the man- 

 agement of the forests under control of 

 the Forest Service ; in fact, quick de- 

 cision and speedy action has been no- 

 ticeable in practically every case apply- 

 ing to the National Forests in Alaska 

 since the Forest Service had control. 



Secretary Lane suggests that the For- 

 est Service act in an advisory capacity 

 with the Board, if it is created, but 

 this would not do, because the For- 

 est Service would not have control of 

 the men employed on the forests nor 

 of their work. 



The proposed law should be amended 

 to provide that the Forest Service re- 

 tain the administration of the national 

 forests of Alaska and act in conjunc- 

 tion with a Board, or the necessity for 

 such a Board might be entirely re- 

 moved by a revision and a correla- 

 tion of the existing laws by means of 

 which control and direction of the 

 country's resources could be concen- 

 trated in a few departments, and the 

 whole operation of administering the 

 resources of the country thoroughly 

 simplified. 



A THIS number of AMERICAN 

 FORESTRY is being read, officials 

 and members of the American 

 Forestry Association will be ad- 

 dressing some seven or eight thousand 

 teachers, representing every State in 

 the Union, at Chautauqua, N. Y. These 

 teachers will be told why the conserva- 



tion of the forests is one of the most 

 important problems of the day, and 

 of what vital necessity it is to 'future 

 generations. The ablest experts and 

 speakers in the cause of forestry will 

 be there, and the teachers will not only 

 hear about forestry but will see moving 

 pictures and stereopticon views which 



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